Although the Rio+20 sustainability summit ended without delivering the vision or commitment needed for the future, Switzerland says the process is not dead.

It is a view shared by the Swiss media following the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development – which closed on Friday after 193 nations agreed on a lackluster accord that largely reaffirms the goals of its predecessor, the 1992 Earth Summit.

“Based on its ambitions, the results of Rio+20 are very modest. But there were still some small successes,” stated the Saturday edition of the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper. These successes included sustainability goals and the introduction of a so-called green economy, defined as creating “well-being” and jobs without damaging ecosystems.

﻿﻿﻿The people of canton Bern in Switzerland have voted in favor of building a new nuclear power plant in Mühleberg to replace the old one there. Meanwhile, voters in canton Nidwalden reiterated their lack of interest in hosting a nuclear waste repository in Wellenberg. Though non-binding, the recent ballot box results show that nuclear technology remains controversial in Switzerland.

Wide-bucket excavators aren’t the tools of choice for archaeological digs, but sometimes you can’t be too picky. An astute workman was quick to realize the machine he was operating struck something special at a Lucerne-area gravel pit. That “something” was a 45,000-year-old mammoth tusk, about 180 centimetres long and about 50 centimetres in diameter at its thickest part.

Swiss conservation organization Pro Natura has named the “long-horned” bee as the country’s Animal of the Year 2010. The conservation group believes the wild bee is a good choice because it calls attention to the millions of other tiny creatures that contribute to biodiversity.